Azernews.Az

Eleventh President of Turkey Abdullah Gul phoned President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on April 5.

He offered his condolences to the head of state and our people over the killing of civilians and Azerbaijani servicemen who were heroically repulsing the attacks of the occupant Armenian forces on the line of contact. Abdullah Gul said the Turkish people and state had always stood by the state and the people of Azerbaijan.

President Ilham Aliyev expressed his respect for the attention and condolences. The head of state said Abdullah Gul had played a great role in strengthening relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey both during his years as President of the Republic of Turkey and today.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers.

The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.